In a 4- to 5-page paper, synthesize the peer-reviewed research you reviewed. Be sure to address the following: Identify the 5 peer-reviewed articles you reviewed, citing each in APA format. Summariz

Running Head: CLINICAL SYSTEMS 0

07/26/2020

Clinical Systems

Article on Electronic Health Records

This article explores the impact of electronic health records on the quality of healthcare. Electronic health records generally collect the information of patients such as their medication orders, medical history, vital, signs, radiology results, laboratory results, as well as the notes and comments of the physician and nurse. Ninety-four percent of healthcare practitioners report that electronic health records make patient records easily available at the point of care. Seventy-five percent report that electronic health records enable them to deliver better patient care because they have access to a patient's health information that is complete and accurate (Campanella et al., 2015).Complete and accurate information gives healthcare providers a comprehensive picture of the patient's health, thus enabling them to diagnose a patient’s health problem much sooner. The study reveals that electronic health record is considered to be an ideal tool for assessing healthcare quality and monitoring the performance of healthcare providers due to the availability of stored computerized data.

Electronic health records support better patient outcomes. For example, if a patient is suffering from an allergic condition, say asthma the electronic health record not only keeps a record of this allergy but also checks for potential safety problems automatically whenever a new medication is prescribed to the patient. The clinician is then alerted and corrects this error, leading to better patient outcomes. Electronic health records are efficient because care providers don’t have to spend time interpreting handwritten notes. I have learned that electronic health records improve a patient’s overall care. They improve how well doctors communicate with each other and coordinate patient’s treatment.

Article on Telehealth and Telemedicine

This article provides perception into the importance of telehealth and telemedicine to healthcare providers and patients. With the shortage of healthcare providers, adopting new ways of delivering care is needed for the growing number of the elderly and chronically ill people. When properly implemented, affordable and high-quality health care is extended across patients with chronic illnesses and to the elderly. Telemedicine has replaced the face to face care and can take many different forms. This study reveals that mortality rates and hospital readmissions have significantly reduced in most hospitals in America due to telehealth and telemedicine (Kvedar et al.,2014). Telehealth services have allowed patients and consumers to access personalized education materials and enable them to participate in online discussions as a way of keeping their health in check. With the growing of mobile phones, patients can access telehealth services. These tools allow healthcare professionals and nurses to perform more proficiently by dedicating time to patients who are in dire need of help.

Telemedicine has greatly improved the outcome of patients suffering from heart diseases. Patients with these disorders get professional care using in-home monitoring of their health disorders such. With telemedicine, providers are able to monitor if their patients are conforming to their medicines and other medication regimens. Telehealth is broadly incorporated by medical practitioners. Due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19 and the related regulatory restrictions enacted to slow its spread, many physicians quickly enabled Telemedicine techniques to allow patients to adhere to quarantine/social distancing restrictions while still being able to receive consultations and treatments from their physician. Overall healthcare efficiencies and cost are impacted positively due to fewer transports to hospital ER’s, hospital admissions, shorter hospital stays, reduced travel times, and improved management of chronic diseases. 

Article on bed management system in capacity management

This article provides a review on capacity management and how critical it is to maintain the quality of healthcare and patient safety. It is said Healthcare that patients spend too much time waiting to be admitted because of the lack of available beds. Issues such as overcrowding and ambulance diversion lead to poor and inefficient patient care. Emergency departments suffer most from the effects of the unavailability of beds. Bed management technology is designed to improve patient traffic and reduce the risks of delays (McCaughey et al.,2015). Hospitals that use bed management technology lower their operational costs and increase patient’ satisfaction. Because the system offers swift report of discharges, vacant bed utilization is increased and patients experience less waiting time.

Bed management technology offers an instant update on the availability and status of beds. Hospitals with a bed management systems saves nurses the time to go from room to room to see if there are any vacant beds available. The bed management systems send alerts on rooms and beds that need to be cleaned so that it can be done as fast as possible. The overall effect is that patients get to be attended to on time, thereby receiving quality care from providers.  Hospital personnel can be more productive and collaborative, and patients enjoy faster, higher quality care with fewer readmissions. All of these factors contribute to lower costs and higher revenue.

Article on a clinical decisions support system (CDSS)

The article illustrates the benefits of the Clinical Decisions Support Systems to healthcare providers. It explains the role of CDSS in easing the growing time demands that providers are facing. CDSS is an IT component that combines knowledge and data to generate and present helpful information to clinicians as care is being delivered system. It helps clinicians make decisions and generally improve patient care (Marasinghe, 2015).CDSS are designed to allow integrated workflows, give support at the time of care and propose clinicians recommendations on care plans. CDS is intended to improve care quality, avoid errors or adverse events, and allow care team members to be more efficient. Health care providers have to deal with increasing amounts of data from the patients they handle daily and are confronted with a huge volume of relevant medical research. Making coherent decisions, therefore, becomes a challenge for them.

CDSS comes in handy as they generate patient-specific advice to help clinicians make appropriate clinical decisions. Health care providers, interact with CDSS to reach a diagnosis based on the data of a patient. CDSS reduce costs by making sure that patients do not take unnecessary tests. The system also issues alerts to care providers about unusual test results. CDSS has, for example, been used to provide intuitive guidance to sepsis patients, allowing the patients to receive time-critical treatments. CDSS, if well implemented, can significantly improve health care for patients through accurate diagnosis.

Article on the medical practice management system

This article delivers an in-depth examination of the benefits associated with the implementation of a robust practice management system (PMS). A medical practice management system takes care of a range of things for healthcare providers. It helps providers focus on giving good quality care instead of dealing with other tasks which are in many instances, quite burdensome (Nelson et al., 2015). Practice Management Systems (PMS) offer providers a solution to coordinate all organizational tasks and processes through improved workflows, added efficiencies and a myriad of other benefits. The system computerizes procedures such as billing due dates scheduling appointments, and patient tracking. This system also streamlines payment processes and facilitate faster reimbursement due to its ability to verify patient’s insurance eligibility. The ability to instantly document, chart or code further helps minimize errors that may otherwise occur when lags exist between the point of care and documentation. This fosters an environment in which the top priority is given to quality care. The practice management systems offers healthcare providers with a dynamic solution to harmonize the organization's processes and tasks through improved workflows.

References

Campanella, P., Lovato, E., Marone, C., Fallacara, L., Mancuso, A., Ricciardi, W., & Specchia, M. L. (2015). The impact of electronic health records on healthcare quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The European Journal of Public Health, 26(1), 60-64.

Kvedar, J., Coye, M. J., & Everett, W. (2014). Connected health: a review of technologies and strategies to improve patient care with telemedicine and telehealth. Health Affairs, 33(2), 194-199.

McCaughey, D., Erwin, C. O., & DelliFraine, J. L. (2015). Improving capacity management in the emergency department: A review of the literature, 2000-2012. Journal of Healthcare Management, 60(1), 63-75.

Marasinghe, K. M. (2015). Computerized clinical decision support systems to improve medication safety in long-term care homes: a systematic review. BMJ Open, 5(5), e006539.

Nelson, E. C., Eftimovska, E., Lind, C., Hager, A., Wasson, J. H., & Lindblad, S. (2015). Patient-Reported outcome measures in practice. Bmj, 350, g7818.